(Alliance News) - Best of the Best PLC on Thursday declared a special dividend as it said it recorded strong earnings growth in the first half of its financial year.
The company - which run competitions to win cars and other prizes - said the positive performance came as a result of a move from a lower-margin, capital-intensive retail estate comprising up to 26 sites to a wholly-online operation, adding that the transition was executed with no loss of overall revenue or unwelcome exceptional costs.
The stock closed 11% higher at 445.00 pence each on Thursday in London.
For the six months to the end of October, Best of the Best posted pretax profit of GBP1.4 million, up 28% year-on-year from GBP1.1 million.
Revenue was up 6.7% to GBP7.6 million from GBP7.1 million in the comparative period the year prior with online revenue representing 99% of the total amount.
Cash balances at the end of October was recorded at GBP3.2 million with current cash balances of more than GBP4.3 million.
The company declared a special dividend of 14.50 pence per share to be paid on February 21 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on February 7.
Looking ahead, Best said it will continue to grow its investment in new customer acquisition, and to improve the products and experience it offers existing players. It said its investment to attract new customers using marketing channels such as TV, radio, print and social media resulted in 13% rise in online sales compared to the same period the year before.
"The first half of the year has delivered encouraging sales and profits growth, and importantly, we also completed the transition to an online-only business. This momentum has continued since the period end and, as a result, the board now expects full year pretax profits to exceed current market expectations," said Chief Executive William Hindmarch.
"With the group well-positioned for the remainder of the financial year and beyond, we expect to increase our marketing investment to support further revenue and profit growth," he added.
By Ife Taiwo; ifetaiwo@alliancenews.com
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